News

David Tomblin, director for the Science, Technology and Society Scholars program and the new Science, Technology, Ethics and Policy minor, has received the Dean’s Outstanding Performance for Professional Track Faculty by the A. James Clark School of Engineering. The award, instituted in 2020, recognizes exceptionally influential accomplishments in one, or both, the areas of research and teaching.

College Park Scholars is mourning the passing last week of Dr. John Lee Hellman, the founding director of the Life Sciences Scholars program—one of the four original programs in College Park Scholars. He served as director of Life Sciences from its launch in 1994 until 2009. Hellman was a lifelong Terp, having earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as his doctorate, from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). After earning his Ph.D. in 1975, he went on to serve as a professor in the Department of Entomology in the then–College of Life Sciences. (Entomology is now a joint department of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences.)

A renowned scholar of political psychology, political violence and genocide, James Glass oversaw the International Studies Scholars program for 15 years. Dr. James Glass, director of the International Studies (IS) Scholars program for the past 15 years, has stepped down from his post, effective June 30. He was the longest-serving director in IS history.

Following a year’s leave of absence, Kalyani Chadha has stepped down from her position as director of the Media, Self and Society Scholars program. Alison Burns, interim director of the program during 2019–2020, will be her replacement, starting immediately. The appointment was made by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Chadha, only the second director of Media, Self and Society, had headed up the program since 2004. During that time, she oversaw a gradual shift of the program’s focus from primarily popular culture to issues of particular resonance in society today.

Broadcast journalist Alison Burns has been appointed interim director of College Park Scholars’ Media, Self and Society program. She takes over from Kalyani Chadha, who will be on leave during the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 academic years. Burns’ appointment was made by the University of Maryland (UMD) Philip Merrill College of Journalism, which sponsors the Media, Self and Society Scholars program.

My first gig at the University of Maryland was an assistantship to Dr. Thomas Holtz, who at the time was creating the Earth, Life and Time program—the precursor to College Park Scholars’ current Science and Global Change (SGC) program. In the 19 years since, I’ve taken on many other responsibilities, including the director of undergraduate studies for the Department of Geology. But my job with Scholars remains by far my favorite. Upon reflection, the reasons come down to the intellectual freedom I get to craft a genuinely interdisciplinary curriculum and the diversity of impressive students Scholars has brought into my life.